It's about Tim

I’ve not posted in a while and, apparently, infrequent, inconsistent posting is a sin in this new world of constant news feeds, tweets, status updates, etc. I have to remind myself that comments, thread responses, and status updates on Facebook are not going to make me a better writer. So, here I am after wrestling with a WordPress cookie issue that would not let me into my dashboard via Firefox so that I might throw more words out into the ether.

Hopefully, I will finish this and actually post it – I’m not impressed with the number of drafts I see sitting in my drafts folder. To be fair, some of the posts are a bit negative and I ran out of energy and motivation trying to beat them into something that would add to the ongoing conversation of life. I had a question answered recently that’s been in the back of my head every time I started typing for at least a couple of years now. I was watching Into the Storm and a remark by Sir Winston Churchill to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt caught my attention. When questioned about his faith, Sir Winston, who dealt with the same doubts that I deal with, replied to FDR,  “Whether you believe or disbelieve — it is a wicked thing to take away a man’s hope.” So, I feel somewhat justified in keeping my skeptical mouth shut even though I’ve wanted to weigh in on the big question. As it turns out, someone can convey with humor an opinion I share, but would have no doubt fumbled with heavy-handed cynicism. I am also inclined to excuse my reticence with a comment a friend shared a while back, “If you cannot improve upon the silence, keep quiet (STFU).” But now, it’s time for me to ramble a little, as if I haven’t been already. Continue reading What’s new — a nod at climbing, yoga and biking — maybe a year remembered.

Fatcyclist.com is one of my absolute, all-time favorite reads on the web. Although cycling focused, Elden Nelson’s blog is about so much more. Long-time readers have had the opportunity to witness Elden’s blog evolve from a fun weight loss accountability blog for Fatty’s friends into a true testimony of what the cycling “family” really is. Elden was very candid during his wife Susan’s battle with cancer and touched lives all around the world. When Susan passed, people who had never met her mourned for her and reached out to Elden and his family as if they were kin.

Elden is a better writer than I, so I encourage you to read his blog yourself. Be sure to read the comments on many of the posts; they are a pleasant relief from the commentary on most sites. His blog reminds me of why I ride the bike – I’ve made some of my strongest friendships simply by showing up to a group ride.

Elden is doing a lot to honor his wife and their children. With the help of loyal and loving fans he has raised a great deal of money for some good causes. One of his MO’s is the tongue-in-cheek open letter. Recently he wrote a very humorous letter to Johan Bruyneel, manager of the newly-formed Team Radio Shack, in which he mentioned his many qualifications to be on the team. Bruyneel replied with a challenge for Elden to raise a considerably amount of money for two great causes in a short period of time.

If you want to do something great for someone who deserves it this holiday season, I encourage you to consider giving as much as you can to either one or both of these causes. Do it as soon as possible though, the deadline for Bruyneel’s challenge is this coming Friday, December 11.

Direct links to the causes mentioned in Bruyneel’s letter:

World Bicycle Relief – http://grassroots.kintera.org/Creative/fatcyclist

LIVESTRONG – http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2009/sendfattytocamp

Thanks and Happy Holidays.

Slashdot Science Story | Scientists Create Artificial Meat.

I don’t think I like the idea of this at all. I think most of us are already too far removed from the source of our food. I like knowing my burger came from a cow and my bacon from a pig. This just sounds too much like something from a Kurt Vonnegut short story.

Just some shots from a rainy Saturday with my brother Jonathan and his neighbor, Fred. We were out at Fred’s farm.

I can’t be the only one that finds trading guns for “Target” gift cards humorous.

“You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead … wait, you mean you’re going to give me a gift card? OK, take i t.”

Too much information?

Jeremy brought to my attention today how much information was available on me through Facebook. I was being jokingly dismissive until another coworker reminded me that my credit card number was compromised the other day (fortunately my bank was savvy enough to suspect fraud, when “I” bought tickets to Bahrain, and block the charges), so I decided to at least contemplate what he was telling me. And nothing helps contemplation quite like writing. Hence this post.

(No, my credit card number is not on Facebook, at least that I know of.)

If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you can see a good amount of information on me. In addition to the demographic-in-to-this-not-into-that info I share, you can eavesdrop on what I am saying to other friends easily if it’s done on wall posts, somewhat less easily if a mutual friend shares privates messages that I sent them. Even if you are not a friend, a mutual friend can easily share what I write with you by allowing you to view their account. My best friend discovered that the hard way a while back, when as a recent divorcee and a novice to Facebook he trusted, as confidants, friends who were sharing all he said with his ex. And it’s not just what I am saying, but what I have said that is visible. Everything is “on record.” Some of what’s on record: names of pets addresses, place of birth, sibling names, parent names – provide the answers to “security” questions asked by financial institutions for identity verification.

One of the first things I did when I got my own domain, before Facebook existed, before people were “blogging”, was to list names of people who I was trying to find.  A few friends found me through my site, but not nearly as many as I had hoped. Once I got on Facebook I found or was found by more than I expected. And I have enjoyed catching up.

–

This was going to be a post where I questioned how much of an online presence I wanted to allow. Then I saw a post from what I’ve thought for a while is one of the best places on the web. Elden Nelson is an enviably gifted writer and his anecdotes about cycling, and more importantly his openness about his wife’s struggle with cancer inspired a lot of people. Had he been paranoid about sharing too much information with the world, he and a lot of others would have lost out. Instead he has had people around the world praying for and pulling for his wife, Susan, as she fought for her precious life. And now that she has passed, people who never met her are touched by the news.

I’ve decided not to worry anymore. Life is too short to allow fear to make your decisions for you.

Win Susan.

Just got back into my Word Press control panel tonight and found a WP upgrade and 7 Plugin upgrades waiting for me. I just upgraded everything automatically (except cforms), so forgive me if anything is broken. I need to show Ashley’s site some love even though she rarely has time to post. Her site has to be way behind.

Heading to bed. I’ll come up with something to write about in the next day or so – maybe the fishing trip I took with some HUMC IT folks on Saturday.

I’ve been lost on Facebook like the rest of the world I guess. I will get my act together and start posting.

How many Wordpress developers does it take to screw up a lightbulb?

This is the last one and I am done with it.